Paper doll.



G. 0. CHESTER.

PAPER DOLL. APPLICATION FILED JAN.29,1912.

' Patented May 14, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WWI v COLUMBIA PLANOGRAI'H CuJvnsnmu'roN. n. C

G. O. CHESTER. PAPER DOLL.

APPLICATION FILED 11.29, 1912.

1,026,624. Patented May 14, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

CAROLYN O. CHESTER, OF NEW YORK, 1\T.

PAPER DOLL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 14, 1912.

Application filed January 29, 1912. Serial No. 674,027.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CAROLYN O. CHESTER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper Dolls, of which the following is a full, clear, and concise specification, suflicient to enable any'person skilled in the art to make and use the same.

This invention has reference to so-called cut-out dolls or blanks therefor of the round bottom type, consisting of a shell-like fabric of decorated paper or similar material possessed of both pliability and stiffness in a sufficient degree to enable it to be folded and rolled and thereafter to stand by itself on its own base, unsupported.

One object of the invention is to so design the paper blank or blanks from which such dolls are made that its garments can each be applied by folding them around the main figure, or doll proper, instead of slipping them over the head, and then be closed with the edges thereof joining or lapping along a single line, preferably at the back, thereby decreasing the number of seams and reducing also proportionately the number of points at which the garments need be fastened, as well as producing a pleasing threedimensional effect.

Another object is to provide a blank or a plurality of blanks of the kind referred to, characterized by a scientifically drawn outline and a methodic arrangement of parts capable of producing an artistic efiect in folding, that the doll when set up may have substantial support and lifelike appearance.

The drawings hereto annexed, in two sheets, illustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 represents the development of a blank intended to form the body of the doll proper, decorated to make it appear as if it were arrayed in a chemise or any undergarment, although the decoration would equally well represent an evening dress. Fig. 2 is the development of a blank adapted for folding upon and around the blank of Fig. 1 and designed to serve as a gown for the' doll. Figs. 3 andt respectively give a face view and a rear view of the doll wearing the gown shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a rear view of the doll wearing the chemise without the gown. Fig. 6 is a vertical section on the line 66 of Fig. 4:, lookshown, and comprising three integral orconnected sections 1,2 and 3, foldable upon and around one another. The said sections 1 and 2, when folded one upon the other, make up the dolls bust, including under this term the head, neck, shoulders, arms, thorax and dorsal region, constituting the decorated corsage. These two sections, as may be seen in Fig. 1, are united on a median line 4 transversely of the head and made to swing about this line as upon a hinge in folding, to form and constitute the front and rear of the bust portion, substantially as it appears in Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive. The bust is thus designed in halves, front and back, so that all parts to be decorated are on the same side of the blank in its clevelopment, which decoration may be performed by hand on the blank already trimmed, or done by a printing press on a sheet of book-paper receiving an impression which pictures the blank to be cut out. The doubled-up sections also operate to impart a desirable modicum of rigidity and massiveness to the upper part of the dolls body. When folded, the two sections are best maintained in their respective positions, as well as relieved from breaking strains at their hinge-joint, by attaching them permanently one to the other, for instance, with the aid of gum arabic or any other means.

Section 3 of the above-named blank for the dolls body constitutes both the lower part of the said body and the chemise or skirt therefor, the latter being a singlepiece skirt, which is rolled over as a cone, around the inferior dorsal region of the dolls bust in such a manner that the side edges 5 and 6 of the skirt decoration will meet in the rear thereof, on a genetrix line coinciding with the longitudinal axis of the placket-opening in a real skirt. This section is provided on one side with an integral underlapping strip 7, and on the opposite side with one or more integrallyformed tabs 8, designed to enter corresponding slits 9 in the inner margin of the said strip, that is, within or in proximity of the dividing line that extends between the strip and the adjoining edge of the skirt decoration. The tabs 8 and slits 9 supply the fastening means for the folded or rolled-up section 3. As represented in Fig. 1, the said tabs 8 are located somewhat farther up on their side of the said section 3 than are the corresponding slits 9 on the other side, and each tab is incised or cut down into from its its upper edge, as at 10, along the sections outer edge, to a depth sufficient to bring the bottom of the cut or incision 10 substantially in line with the uppermost border of the slit which is directly opposite. While this arrangement necessitates the lowering of that side of the blank which carries the tabs in order to insert them in their respective slits, it permits the engagement of the top borders of the several slits with the cuts in the tabs, when the latter are passed throug and the lowered side carrying the same is being raised to its normal position by leveling the adjacent edges of the skirt section 3 at the bottom, which is the final step in the skirt adjustment. The opposite sides of the section 3 then becomes interlocked, as indicated in Fig. 5, and the several constituent parts of the doll, as thus far described, are securely maintained in their respective adjusted positions. The chemiseclad doll, which Fig. 5 represents, will stand of itself on the substantially circular outline constituting the lowermost edge of the rolled-up and substantially conical skirt portion, with the corresponding edge of the underlap 7 for an auxiliary support. The inside lines in Figs. 7 and 8 indicate the formation of this base and support.

To facilitate their insertion in and withdrawal from the slits 9, the tabs 8 are cut slantingly upward on the underside, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 5. This, however, is not an indispensable feature of the invention, which is operative without it. The aforementioned gown is also a one-piece blank of paper comprising a plurality of sections. The latter include a waist-front 11, a pair of folding sleeves 12 and13, a waist-back divided into two nearly equal portions 14 and 15 projecting respectively one from each of the said sleeves, and a skirt 16, all of which parts are suitably decorated in imitation of a modish gown, see Fig. 2. In preparing this second blank to place it upon and around the folded or rolled-up blank already described, its bust portion or waist-front 11 is made so as to cover the dolls thorax from the waist-line over the corsage decoration and up to the neck of the doll wearing the chemise. Figs. 3 and 6. The sleeves 12, 13, are virtually lateral extensions of the waist-front, cut out and arranged to fold on oblique folding lines 17-17 and 1S18, which coincide with the outermost lines of the dolls arms when the slip has been donned, the arms being then completely covered for the distance the sleeves will reach. Figs. 2, 3 and 4. The halves or approximately equal portions 14, 15, of the back for the waist are made to extend upwardly and outwardly in the unfolded blank, from the sleeves 12, 13, and their respective lines of fold, which may be said to run each at an angle of about forty-five degrees (45) from the perpendicular. The free longitudinal edges of the said halves, which are designed to meet centrally over the dorsal region of the doll, then stretch out in opposite directions in a substantially horizontal plane. As the sleeves are folded upon the arms of the doll, the waist portions 14, 15, naturally swing with them on the said lines of fold as upon two axes of 45 incline each, and describe arcs about the same, which cause the said waist portions to turn over from the front to the back of the bust portion of the blank, and their said longitudinal edges to shift positions ninety de rees (90) each, that is, to the perpendicular, from the sub stantial horizontal which they previously occupied. Figs. 2 and 4.

Tabs 19, with transverse cuts 20, are formed on the waist portion 14, and corresponding slits 21 in the portion 15, to provide a fastening means for the back of the waist, when its two said portions have been brought together through the folding of the sleeves as just described. These tabs and slits are made similar to the tabs and slits hereinbefore spoken of as appertaining to the chemise, though located oppositely to them, and they operate in like manner. By preference, the slitted portion 15 is also made a trifle wider than the tab-carrying portion 14, to form an underlap in the waistback, in order that the joint thereof may be well closed and that the line of joint may fall in the center, when the Waist is adjusted on the dolls body and over its chemise or corsage decoration. Figs. 2 and 4. Arcuate cuts 22, 23 and 24, are further made in the upper extremities of the waistfront 11 and waist portions 14, 15, which cuts are separated from one another by the aforesaid lines of fold of the sleeves 12, 13, and jointly serve to produce a well-fitted collar around the dolls neck. Various lowneck effects are readily obtainable by reason of the inclined disposition of the sleevefold line above referred to.

The skirt 16 is all one piece, as in the case of the skirt 3 before described, which it is made to cover and surround. It is also of similar shape in blank form, having an underlapping portion 25 on one side, with slits 26 in the dividing line thereof, and transversely-incised tabs 27 on the opposite side, all operating like those first herein mentioned, except that the slitted underlapping side and the tab-bearing side of the skirt 16 are shown in the drawings as reversed in their positions with respect to the corresponding sides of the skirt 3. Otherwise the two skirts are folded around and fastened in an identical manner, their opposite edges meeting and being joined at the back as by a single seam along the line of the placket. It will be understood that the overskirt 16 may, if desired, be made or cut independently and separate from the waist portion 11, with which, however, it is here shown integral, in which case it will fit upon the chemise skirt 3, being supported thereon much in the same manner as an actual skirt is hung from the waist and hips of the wearer, overlapping with a placket at the back. The waist also may be independently made and applied, and in any case the skirt will preferably overlap and cover the bottom of the waist at the back precisely as is done in similar garments in life and actual practice. Figs. 4: and 6. It

will be further observed that when it is clothed in the gown, the doll has a double base to stand on, consisting of the substan tially concentric edges of the two skirts 3 and 16, which edges are lapped at the back, as above described (Figs. 7 and 8), there being thus provided a double thickness of paper to support the doll at the front and sides, and four thicknesses at the back, which provision affords ample stability, while permitting of the use of thinner paper than is ordinarily employed for paper dolls.

Having now described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. A sheet-paper doll comprising a bust composed of a front and one or more back portions foldable upon the rear side of the front portion, and a single-piece skirt folding from the front around the waist-line and meeting in the back.

2. A paper doll blank including a bust portion comprising a foldable back portion united thereto on a folding line extending obliquely to the axis of the bust, and a single-piece skirt folding around the waist-line from the front to the back of the bust.

3. A paper doll blank including a bust portion having a decorated front and one or more integral back-portions foldable over upon the rear of the front of said bust portion and forming a decorated dorsal region, and a single-piece skirt portion foldable around to form a conical supporting skirt overlapping the aforesaid dorsal region.

4. A paper doll blank comprising a bust portion having a decorated front and two parts foldable over against the back of the front and decorated to resemble a dorsal region, and a single-piece skirt integral with the said bust portion and adapted to be rolled around upon itself and over the lower part of the said dorsal region, and means for connecting the meeting edges of said skirt portion forming an upright seam in the rear of the doll.

5. A paper doll blank comprising a bust with arms, a skirt depending from the bust, and a gown for the doll having a singlepiece waist provided with sleeves foldable on the edges of the said arms.

6. A paper doll blank comprising a bust, a skirt depending therefrom, and a singlepiece gown including waist and skirt foldable from the front over and around said bust and its said skirt, and overlapping each other in the rear of said bust and first mentioned skirt.

7. A paper doll blank comprising a bust with arms and a skirt integral with the bust, in combination with a garment for the doll consisting of a single-piece waist, including a front, a pair of open sleeves, and a back composed of two approximately equal portions projecting respectively one from each of said sleeves and foldable therewith over the arms and the rear of the bust to form a dorsal region for the bust.

8. A paper doll blank comprising a bust with a decorated waist and a skirt depending from said bust, combined with a gown applied by folding the same over the said bust and skirt, said gown including a waist and a skirt, the latter-named waist folding around the bust and its decoration, and both said skirts being rolled around upon themselves and over their respective waists, forming conical supports for the doll to stand on.

9. A sheet-paper doll comprising a bust, a single-piece skirt foldable around rearwardly therefrom, and a single-piece gown including a waist and a skirt respectively folding upon the front and thence over the sides and back of said bust and of said firstnamed skirt, the longitudinal edges of said waist and of both said skirts all meeting on the axial line of the placket in the back.

10. A paper doll blank comprising a bust, with arms and a single-piece waist foldable on oblique lines over the back of the bust, the back of said waist consisting of two meeting portions, one portion having an underlap with slits formed therein, and the other portion carrying tabs interlocking with said slits.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of .two witnesses.

CAROLYN O. CHESTER. WVitnesses:

H. G. KIMBALL. G. A. TAYLOR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

